News
- Earth
Smoking out a source of painful menses
Breathing in secondhand smoke may contribute to the development of menstrual cramps.
- Earth
Allergic to computing?
The plastic cases of certain computer monitors emit a chemical—triphenyl phosphate—that can cause allergic reactions.
- Health & Medicine
Immune response in brain sparks nausea
Ailments ranging from the common cold to many types of cancer can make people nauseous, an effect that may occur because signals from the brain suppress the muscle contractions required for digestion.
- Health & Medicine
Cell therapy not just for Parkinson’s
Transplanted nerve cells can survive in the brains of people who have suffered strokes and may alleviate some brain damage.
- Health & Medicine
Making scents of Alzheimer’s
Among people with mild symptoms of memory loss, a limited ability to recognize smells—along with an inability to detect the disability—has been linked to the future development of Alzheimer's.
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Bean weevils get a kick out of mates
Breeding in stored grain throughout the tropics, bean weevils represent an unusually clear example of the evolutionary male-female arms race.
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Squirrels save for the family’s future
Some female red squirrels hoard extra food for youngsters that haven't yet been conceived.
- Astronomy
Nudging asteroid fragments toward Earth
New computer simulations detail how fragments of asteroids travel to Earth and rain down as meteorites.
- Materials Science
New work improves stainless steel surface
A novel electrochemical method improves the surface of stainless steel without making the metal brittle or prone to corrosion.
- Animals
Second bird genus shares dart-frog toxins
Researchers have found a second bird genus, also in New Guinea, that carries the same toxins as poison-dart frogs in Central and South America.
- Planetary Science
Radio link may hamper a Titan probe
A recently discovered communications problem could prevent the Huygens probe from relaying all of its precious data when it parachutes through the cloud-bedecked atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, in 2004.
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Model explains bubonic plague’s persistence
A computer model of bubonic plague suggests rats can harbor the disease for years before a human epidemic breaks out.
